A typical set top box (STB) has a limited number of RF tuners in it, e.g., one or two such tuners. Each tuner allows the STB to tune to one communications channel, e.g., QAM channel at a time. Normally one program, e.g., TV program or movie, is recovered and displayed or recorded from each communications channel. Thus, in many known systems, a STB is designed to support recovery and recording and/or display of a number of programs up to the number of tuners in the STB. A STB has only two RF tuners then, with existing implementations, it can typically only record two different program channels simultaneously, or record one program channel while it viewing another program channel.
STBs are increasingly being paired with recording devices and/or include data storage capability which can be used to record and playback programs at a later time.
As the number of television and other program channels continues to increase, customers are faced with the increasing potential that programs of interest to the customer will be broadcast during the same time slots, on the same or different program channels. Given that set top boxes frequently only include one or two tuners, customers are frequently presented with more programs, movies or other content of interest being broadcast in a given time slot than there are tuners in the customer's STB. This presents the customer with the dilemma of having to use multiple STBs and corresponding recording devices if the customer desires to record more programs during a given time period than there are tuners in the customer's individual STB.
From a content provider's perspective, in order to provide customers an opportunity to record or view content to the extent desired, the content provider may have to repeat a broadcast of one or more programs to provide multiple recording/viewing opportunities to allow customers adequate opportunity to view/record the communicated content. Such repeated transmissions can be an inefficient use of communications resources since the repeated transmission of one communication may preclude the communication of new content or another program since communications bandwidth is a limited resource.
While the need to retransmit content can be inefficient in the case of broadcast programs such as television programs, the inefficient use of communications bandwidth can be particularly costly in the case of content delivery in the case of on demand or premium content delivery. In such applications the number of communications channels available for on-demand content or premium events may be relatively limited and the need to repeatedly transmit a title or other program may result in foregoing revenue that could have been obtained by delivering additional content, e.g., on demand or on a premium channel.
In view of the above discussion, it should be appreciated that it would be desirable if the number of different programs which could be simultaneously received and recorded or viewed by a customer could be increased. Adding tuners to STBs may be one way of achieving this objective. However, the cost of adding additional tuners can be cost prohibitive given the price sensitivity many consumers exhibit with regard to consumer electronics. Furthermore, given the large number of STBs deployed by a cable company and/or other content provider such as satellite providers, the cost of adding one or more tuners to each of a large number of STBs can represent a significant investment which may or may not be justified by the increased efficiency and/or premium channel or pay per view revenues that may be made possible by the additional hardware.
It should also be appreciated that there is a need for improved methods and/or apparatus that can be used to allow a set top box or other device to receive multiple programs at the same time and then record or display the programs. It would be highly desirable if the number of programs which could be received during a given time period and then recorded or displayed could exceed the number of tuners in the device, e.g., STB or other receiver, at the customer's premises.
In addition to improved methods and/or apparatus for implementing customer premise devices, such as STBs and/or satellite receivers, it may be desirable if improved methods of communicating programs to the customer premise devices could be devised which could be used in conjunction with improved customer device methods to make more efficient use of limited communications resources available for content delivery. While improved delivery methods are desirable, it would be particularly advantageous if, in at least some embodiments, the improved delivery methods did not interfere with the operation of currently deployed set top boxes or receivers.